Annoyed using Vinted, or just bad luck!

[BeeMelissa]

I’m fairly new to buying on Vinted but compared to eBay I’m finding it extremely annoying, curious from others if this is normal or I’ve just been a bit unlucky.

On eBay, once you buy you’ve bought. Over the last couple of days I bought 3 items on Vinted, all at the price stated, which I thought was fair. I haven’t had any kind of notification from any of the sellers. The other week I offered on an item to which there was no reply. I bought and paid immediately for a top and nothing until I was refunded. Why do people put buy now prices if they can’t be bothered communicating, getting things ready to post, or just not bother at all. It’s so annoying!

Ive had nothing but good experiences on eBay though.

Sounds like you’ve had some bad luck to have encountered multiple bad experiences with Vinted straight off the bat.
That being said, I can give you a little bit of advice that may help!
Check the seller before buying - Click on their profile, see what feedback they’ve been given by other people who have bought off them. Also, how long ago the item was listed. If the item was listed a long time ago, the person may have a new phone and not have redownloaded Vinted, or completely lost access to their account in some other way. Regarding pricing on Vinted compared to eBay, Vinted is much more of a car boot style ‘haggle is expected’ platform. People are just more ruthless/desperate/anonymous on there. If you’ve sent offers/bought things that haven’t been sent/haven’t had your messages replied to then the sellers were the issue, not Vinted in general. Although, people sell all sorts of absolute rubbish I wouldn’t even give away on Vinted, such as stained clothes, broken pushchairs etc. people will buy any old rubbish for the right price. A lot of chancers on Vinted too. The up side of that is that you can get absolute bargains. You are also covered if things aren’t sent etc, but because the seller gets 7 days to send, you’re waiting quite a long time before you get your money back. I’d suggest to do some better vetting of the seller before buying 😃 Hope this helps!

Thank you so much! I will use your suggestions next time I think of buying something. I didn’t know any of that! I tend to be quite trusting and when I sell on eBay I make a big effort to post as quick as I can after payment, if payment has been quick then particularly so.

It’s definitely got worse! 50% of the time the sellers are selling knock off things or don’t even bother posting them.

I think you’ve been quite unlucky with those transactions as your first few. I’ve bought lots of things and had one no-send and one cancelled order. I agree with the advice to check the seller, you should be able to see how long ago they were last active on Vinted. That plus how long an item has been up for can be helpful to know, combined with the seller’s star rating and how recent any reviews they have are.

I've noticed an up tick in this happening and wondered if there is some vinted gazumping going on.
Two items I made reasonably good offers on, were accepted, I paid and then they never got sent and sellers ignored my messages.
Few weeks later appears same item relisted at higher Price

I’ve had mixed experiences. Unfortunately some fake trainers and a branded waterproof. I’ve learnt that it’s more likely to be fake if new with box etc for trainers if they are too cheap. The ones I got were £40 for some NWT Adidas, so not cheap enough to be suspicious but were definitely fake. Seller even claimed they didn’t ever get them returned despite the tracking photos. Have had some great bargains too, but are at mercy of seller to send the stuff out. Love the rule’s someone mentioned already!

If things have been up for a few months I send a msg asking if they are still available for sale. Had someone after I buy say they can’t find the item or it was charitied and forgot to take down. Always always read feedback and if in doubt message or don’t buy. Don’t get into arguements either, if someone starts being weird just block.

Thanks for all the feedback and tips!

So far I prefer eBay. It’s not just the issues I’ve mentioned but i find searching and filtering, particularly sizes, better. I look for size 14 or 16, which on Vinted is two ranges 12-14 16-18. Unless I just haven’t found the right filter. I will continue to use it but definitely research the seller a bit more before buying!

Look on how long the item has been listed,

if a while, then probably the item has been donated to charity, and the listing not removed ( guilty as charged).

Sadly the Vinted size filters are that daft. They changed them from single sizes in around November last year causing a lot of issues as they also changed the size category for existing listings automatically and left it up to sellers to manually correct them all. Madness.

As a seller, I do have some items that have been listed for a fair while, I tend to just leave them up, but hopefully buyers can see that I am active on Vinted and have recent fulfilled orders.